China Orders Firms To Stop Buying Nvidia AI Chip, FT Says
Such a move would mark an escalation of Beijing’s campaign against the use of Nvidia’s accelerators, essential to AI development but largely banned from the world’s largest semiconductor arena.
China’s internet watchdog has instructed companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. to terminate orders for Nvidia Corp.’s RTX Pro 6000D, the Financial Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The Cyberspace Administration of China told companies this week to stop testing the chip and cancel existing orders, the FT reported. Before that diktat, several companies indicated they would order tens of thousands of the product, which Nvidia introduced to get around restrictions on the shipment of advanced AI chips to China, the FT said.
Such a move would mark an escalation of Beijing’s campaign against the use of Nvidia’s accelerators, essential to AI development but largely banned from the world’s largest semiconductor arena. It would follow instructions handed down over the summer pushing firms to avoid using the H20, the lower-end chip that the Trump administration this year decided to allow Nvidia to ship to China.
Shares in Nvidia erased premarket gains to fall 1%, while rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. slipped about 0.7%.
“I’m disappointed with what I see but they have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States,” Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang told reporters at a press briefing in London. “We can only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be.”
Huang is one of several tech leaders accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to the UK, during which they are announcing plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on technology infrastructure.
Nvidia has found itself thrust into the center of delicate negotiations between Beijing and Washington this year, because of its central role in driving future technologies including artificial intelligence. The company dominates the market for the chips essential to building and operating AI services at companies ranging from Meta Platforms Inc. to DeepSeek.
This week, China ruled that Nvidia violated anti-monopoly laws with the $7 billion 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd., ratcheting up the pressure on US companies. Days before that, Beijing also said it was launching an antidumping investigation targeting a type of semiconductor made by US companies such as Texas Instruments Inc.
“China clearly prefers to develop AI at its own pace on a domestic tech stack. Better to bite the bullet now than to rely on US tech that can be restricted upon a whim,” said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee. “A complete ban, if true, would show China’s confidence in its local supply chain somewhat. But still likely it’s a bargaining chip in the trade negotiations.”
Trump is slated to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday, after the two sides held trade talks in Madrid.
The RTX6000 series chip isn’t regarded as among Nvidia’s marquee products, more of a high-end card designed specifically for the restricted Chinese market. Domestic firms have long coveted Nvidia’s most powerful accelerators, which Washington banned from China for fear they could propel the nation’s broader geopolitical and military ambitions.
Beijing’s regulators made their most recent decision because of a growing feeling that domestic chips have gained in sophistication, the FT reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Companies like Alibaba and Baidu Inc., keen to reduce their reliance on foreign chips, are developing their own homegrown alternatives. Alibaba has secured a high-profile customer in China’s No. 2 wireless carrier for its “T-Head” AI chips, suggesting the Chinese tech leader’s nascent semiconductor efforts are gaining traction in its home market.
